The Sunnmøre Practical Agricultural Society ( no, Syndmøre practiske Landhuusholdningsselskab was a patriotic and non-profit association with the goal of developing business and agriculture in

Norway Norway, officially the Kingdom of Norway, is a Nordic country in Northern Europe, the mainland territory of which comprises the western and northernmost portion of the Scandinavian Peninsula. The remote Arctic island of Jan Mayen and t ...

Sunnmøre Sunnmøre (, en, South- Møre) is the southernmost traditional district of the western Norwegian county of Møre og Romsdal. Its main city is Ålesund. The region comprises the municipalities ( no, kommuner) of Giske, Hareid, Herøy, Norddal ...

district. The society was established on November 2, 1773 by

Melchior Falch Melchior Michaelsen Falch (1720 – September 14, 1791) was a Norwegian jurist and magistrate in the municipality of Sogndal in Sogn og Fjordane, Norway. He was interested in promoting fisheries, and in 1775 he received an award for a work on Norw ...

in the village of Borgund. Falch and the priest

Hans Strøm Hans Strøm (25 January 1726 – 1 February 1797) was a Norwegian clergyman. He also became a prominent zoologist and naturalist. He is best associated with his topographical description of the traditional district of Sunnmøre. Life Hans S ...

supported the initiative. The founding meeting was also attended by other officials and leading people at Sunnmøre, and several others joined later. The society was inspired by the Royal Danish Agricultural Society, and among other things it promoted farmers' awards for useful measures and carried out educational work on improving agriculture and other industries in the district. The society was one of the first of its kind in Norway, and it provided a model for similar associations elsewhere in the country. For example, in 1778 the society awarded prizes of 10 rix-dollars for stone livestock buildings, eight rix-dollars for newly tilled land, six rix-dollars for shooting six adult wolves, and five rix-dollars for potato cultivation. Melchior Falch himself operated a model farm in Borgund. The society stagnated when Falch and Strøm left Sunnmøre in 1779, but efforts by Andreas Landmark revived the society's activities around 1802. Work in the society came to a complete standstill in 1816 for reasons that are not clear. The society was probably absorbed into the Royal Norwegian Welfare Society (''Det Kongelige Selskap for Norges Vel''). The Norwegian Welfare Society was established in 1809 with its own district committee for Sunnmøre, and this district committee contained the same persons (the provost Peter Daniel Baade, the magistrate Ole Severin Kildal, and the bailiff Andreas Landmark) as the leadership of the agricultural society.

Members

Those present at the founding meeting: *

, magistrate * Peder Nerem, provost * Schieldrop, lieutenant * Christian Meldal, priest * Johannes Brun, priest (half-brother of

Johan Nordahl Brun Johan Nordahl Brun (21 March 1745 – 26 July 1816) was a Norwegian-Danish poet, dramatist, bishop of Bergen (1804–1816), and politician who contributed significantly to the growth of national romanticism in Norway, contributing to the growing ...

) * Peder Finde Astrup from Spjelkavik * Jens Lindorph, customs official * Arnoldus Heide, merchant * Andreas Luth, merchant * Nils Hagerup, merchant * Johannes Boldt, merchant * Jochum C. Rode, merchant * Ole Honningdal, merchant Members that joined later: *

Sivert Aarflot Sivert Knudsen Aarflot (October 23, 1759 – April 14, 1817) was a Norwegian figure in popular education. He worked as a schoolteacher in Volda in the Sunnmøre district and then served as a ''lensmann''. Life Aarflot is known for his work in com ...

, editor * Ole Alsing, bailiff in Sunnmøre * Nicolai Astrup (1748–1802), priest * Johan Christopher Haar Daae, priest * Claus Frimann, priest * Christian F. Hagerup, provost, son of

Eiler Hansen Hagerup Eiler Hansen Hagerup or Eiler Hagerup d.e. (25 November 1685 – 15 April 1743) was a Norwegian theologian and priest. He was the Bishop of the Diocese of Trondhjem from 1731 until his death in 1743. Personal life Eiler Hagerup was born on 2 ...

* Ole Sevrin Kildal, magistrate * Joachim de Knagenhielm, county governor * Ludolf Krohn, priest * Andreas Landmark, bailiff * Nils L. Landmark, magistrate and politician * Ludvig Pontoppidan, priest, son of

Erik Pontoppidan Erik Ludvigsen Pontoppidan (24 August 1698 – 20 December 1764) was a Danish author, a Lutheran bishop of the Church of Norway, an historian, and an antiquarian. His Catechism of the Church of Denmark heavily influenced Danish and Norwegian r ...

Carl Rønneberg Carl Rønneberg (10 August 1779 – 29 January 1858) was a Norwegian merchant, ship owner, and fish exporter. Carl Esaias Rønneberg was born at Kriksholmen in the parish of Herøy, Møre og Romsdal. He was the son of Christopher Tjærandsen Rønn ...

, businessman *

Peter Frederik Suhm Peter Frederik Suhm (18 October 1728 – 7 September 1798), was a Danish historian. Biography Suhm studied at the University of Copenhagen from 1746 to 1751, and one of his teachers was Ludvig Holberg. In 1749 he translated a comedy of Plautu ...

, historian * Laurits Weidemann, official Honorary members: * Peter Daniel Baade, provost * Johan Lausen Bull, jurist * Ole Christian Bull, bailiff, poet *

Hilmar Meincke Krohg Hilmar Meincke Krohg (1 January 1776 – 13 August 1851) was a Norwegian politician and elected official. He served as a representative at the Norwegian Constitutional Assembly. Biography Hilmar Meincke Krohg was born in Trondheim, Norway. He att ...

, county governor, representative at the

Norwegian Constitutional Assembly The Norwegian Constituent Assembly (in Norwegian ''Grunnlovsforsamlingen'', also known as ''Riksforsamlingen'') is the name given to the 1814 constitutional assembly at Eidsvoll in Norway, that adopted the Norwegian Constitution and formalised th ...

Christian Ditlev Frederik Reventlow Christian Ditlev Frederik, Count of Reventlow (11 March 1748 – 11 October 1827) was a Danish statesman and reformer, the son of Privy Councillor Christian Ditlev Reventlow (1710–1775) by his first wife, baroness Johanne Sophie Frederikke von B ...

, count, minister *

Ole Hannibal Sommerfeldt Ole Hannibal Sommerfelt (3 March 1753 – 6 April 1821) was a Norwegian jurist, civil servant and topographer. Personal life He was born at Sukkestad in Toten as a son of district stipendiary magistrate and chancellor councillor David Christian S ...

, county governor

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Sunnmore Practical Agricultural Society Non-profit organisations based in Norway 1773 establishments in Norway